Oct 21 - Mail on Sunday; London (UK)

Pollution in Scotlands skies has soared since ScottishPower cranked up its two coal plants to keep profits up.

Levels of toxic and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere shot up dramatically last year as the Spanish-owned energy giant turned to cheap foreign coal to fire Longannet and Cockenzie power plants in the face of rising gas prices.

The decision to use a smoke-producing fuel, taken as the company reported massive profits, has pushed back progress on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Last night Robin Harper, co-convener of the Scottish Green Party, said he was appalled at the way ScottishPower had acted, and accused it of putting profits ahead of the environment. He said: It is very sad that there is no Scottish government policy that could stop ScottishPower making the choice to burn coal instead of gas.

They should have discussed it with the Executive before burning all this more coal and polluting the atmosphere. Most customers of Scottish-Power will be appalled that they had to pay record bills at a time when the company were polluting the atmosphere considerably more.

Power production at Longannet in Fife and Cockenzie near Edinburgh rose by nearly a quarter last year as the power company, owned by Spanish firm Iberdrola, sought to keep up with rising demand. With gas prices also rising and reliance on nuclear power being scaled back, the company chose the two coal-fired plants to take up the strain, using fuel bought from South Africa.

But pollution from the two power stations led to 850 testing sites across the Scotland recording a 10 per cent rise in carbon dioxide levels, along with a 22 per cent increase in sulphur and a 40 per cent rise in higher nitrogen oxides.

In 2006, Longannet churned out ten billion tons of carbon dioxide, 33.8 million tons of sulphur and 22.7 million tons of nitrogen oxide, while the corresponding figures for Cockenzie were five billion, 22.6 million and 20.3 million.

At the same time, ScottishPower reported a 47 per cent pre-tax profit jump to Pounds 675 million.

A company spokesman said: We are doing everything possible to reduce emissions from Longannet and Cockenzie, but coal is playing a vital part in producing electricity.

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